What's your favourite extinct animal?

[Tone C]

Meglodon Shark. Great White on steroids- 60 feet of shark with an appetite for eating whales..

 

[ocean size]

i always thought it was a Tasmanian devil but thanks for the info and spelling

This is the devil. A small dog sized beast with an oversized head and jaws capable of cracking bones. Still in Tassie, eating roadkill. It is dealing with a transmissible cancer right now though. The name comes from their awful, awful screams at night and they fight a lot.

The tumor disease, Devil Facial Tumour Disease, is really interesting. They fight and bite a lot and actually pass cells of the tumour to each other- it's basically a tissue graft. There are only a few examples of this in nature, a few in clams and one sexually transmitted one in dogs.

 

[Fuzzybabyducks]

ive never met an extinct animal

 

[Amerikuracana]

Giant sloth

Pterodactyl

Giant land birds

Tasmanian tiger

There's a lot I'd want to see.

 

[hiphopnazi]

Soon enough white people.

 

[jefferz]

Gigantopithecus. The largest primate ever and lived alongside modern humans in China

 

[JabToucher]

The Irish Elk.

Quite an impressive beast I must say!

Going to have to google this as I've not heard of this animal.

 

[JabToucher]

probably the big-ass sloth

Don't know if you follow any cryptozoology, but there are many reports of Large type Sloths being alive still in remote parts of South Americas.

 

[JabToucher]

Gigantopithecus. The largest primate ever and lived alongside modern humans in China

Many believe this is what Sasquatch are in present day, or some relative.

 

[Chomsky Honk]

Don't know if you follow any cryptozoology, but there are many reports of Large type Sloths being alive still in remote parts of South Americas.

 

[Pugilistic]

Cambrian marine life was really interesting to me as a kid. Especially the Laggania

 

[jefferz]

Many believe this is what Sasquatch are in present day, or some relative.

Could you imagine being out picking berries and seeing that thing barreling down on you.

 

[JabToucher]

Could you imagine being out picking berries and seeing that thing barreling down on you.

Not to sound like a nut job mate, but I listen to a podcast called "sasquatch chronicles" where they have all sorts of military/ special forces guys call in telling their stories claiming bigfoot is real but covered up.

 

[Tentacle]

This is the devil. A small dog sized beast with an oversized head and jaws capable of cracking bones. Still in Tassie, eating roadkill. It is dealing with a transmissible cancer right now though. The name comes from their awful, awful screams at night and they fight a lot.

The tumor disease, Devil Facial Tumour Disease, is really interesting. They fight and bite a lot and actually pass cells of the tumour to each other- it's basically a tissue graft. There are only a few examples of this in nature, a few in clams and one sexually transmitted one in dogs.

Whoah, that is that cancer thing for real? If they get bit or whatever and it get's another Devil's tumor cells in the wound - shouldn't their immune system kill all cells?

 

[marioh]

early 90s wiggers

notice how the world went to shit when they went extinct.

 

[ocean size]

Whoah, that is that cancer thing for real? If they get bit or whatever and it get's another Devil's tumor cells in the wound - shouldn't their immune system kill all cells?

They have pretty cool ways of avoiding the immune system. At first it was thought devils had so little genetic diversity the immune system didn't notice the foreign cells but that turns out to be not the case.

Immune cells recognize foreign cells by signals on the outside of cells called MHC. However the cancer is able to hide MHC. Natural killer cells should kill them if they are hiding MHC as defective, but there appears to be another mechanism involved where the tumours tell the immune system to back off.

There's a lot to learn for cancer research and for organ transplants type stuff.

Also the whole system appears to be evolving, it used to be that tumours would grow uncontrollably and kill, but some devils appear to tolerate them now. Its in the tumours best interest to allow the host to live longer, after all.

 

[ocean size]

notice how the world went to shit when they went extinct.

Pretty sure J roc launched an independent career in Christian rap.

 

[Headkicktoleg]

These guys looked like fun
Moa

 

[Tentacle]

They have pretty cool ways of avoiding the immune system. At first it was thought devils had so little genetic diversity the immune system didn't notice the foreign cells but that turns out to be not the case.

Immune cells recognize foreign cells by signals on the outside of cells called MHC. However the cancer is able to hide MHC. Natural killer cells should kill them if they are hiding MHC as defective, but there appears to be another mechanism involved where the tumours tell the immune system to back off.

There's a lot to learn for cancer research and for organ transplants type stuff.

Also the whole system appears to be evolving, it used to be that tumours would grow uncontrollably and kill, but some devils appear to tolerate them now. Its in the tumours best interest to allow the host to live longer, after all.

wow. Well, I'm not snuggling them that's for sure.

 

[liljoe]

Extinct megafauna is awesome shit. Some of my favorites: